Snap-in rigid lever actuating arrangement

ABSTRACT

A rigid lever actuator which is snap fastened into place in a support means provided on an electrical switch base, for example, for association with a driver member of a switch mechanism supported from the base.

United States Patent Resh [451 Oct. 24, 1972 [54] SNAP-IN RIGID LEVER ACTUATING ARRANGEMENT [72] Inventor: John S. Resh, Freeport, Ill.

[73] Assignee: Honeywell Inc., Minneapolis, Minn.

[22] Filed: Nov. 5, 1971 [2]] Appl. No.: 196,116

[52] US. Cl. ..200/172A,200/l53T [51 Int. Cl. ..H0lh 3/04 [58] Field of Search ..200/172A,153T

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,911,509 11/1959 Millerwise ..200/ 172 A 3,493,707 2/1970 Castle ..200/ 172 A Primary Examiner-11. 0. Jones Attorney-Philip J. Zrimsek et al.

[57] ABSTRACT A rigid lever actuator which is snap fastened into place in a support means provided on an electrical switch base, for example, for association with a driver member of a switch mechanism supported from the base.

5 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures SNAP-IN RIGID LEVER ACTUATING ARRANGEMENT This invention is concerned with a lever actuating arrangement whereby a rigid lever actuator is arranged to be snapped into place in support means provided in a base member and thereby arranged for pivotal movement with respect to a driver member for a mechanism supported from the base.

Lever actuating arrangements incorporating resilient levers snapped into place in the housing of an electrical switch, for example, are known in the prior art. One such arrangement is disclosed in the Lauder et al US. Pat. No. 2,743,331 where the resilient lever is snapped into place in the opening of the split housing. Due to the snap in approach, the assembly of the switch and the resilient lever can take place during manufacture or during in-field use.

Lever actuating arrangements incorporating a rigid lever pivotally located in place in support means integrally provided in the housing of an electrical switch, for example, are also known in the prior art. As opposed to the resilient lever actuating arrangement referred to above, all such prior art rigid lever actuating arrangements with which I am familiar require split housing constructions so as to allow introduction of the rigid lever in the support means, portions of which are associated with each housing, during assembly of the housings. Such an approach precludes a latter association of the rigid lever with the switch without a disassembly of the split housings taking place. Further because of the great number of lever constructions encountered for various applications, rigid lever actuating arrangements of the general type under consideration inflate not only supplier but user inventories as selective assembly after manufacture or during in-field use of switch and rigid lever is not possible and hence the economies of modular construction are not available.

So as to allow selective assembly of switch and rigid lever after manufacture or during in-field use thereby garnering the economies of inventory reduction due to modular construction, I have developed a unique rigid lever actuating arrangement of the general type discussed above whereby a pivotal portion of the lever is snapped into place in support means integrally provided in the housing relying upon the resilience of the support means to allow the snap together construction to take place. While the support means of the housing and pivotal portion of the rigid lever can take many forms, in the preferred embodiment the support means comprises an elongated cavity with overlying resilient protrusions extending from the longitudinal extremities. The overlying resilient protrusions provide undercut recesses to accept opposite extending elements of the pivotal portion of the rigid lever upon such elements being snapped past the protrusions during assembly of the lever to the switch.

Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a rigid lever actuating arrangement wherein the lever is snap fastened to a base member for operative association with a mechanism supported from the base member.

This and other objects will become apparent from a reading of the following specification and appended claims in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of the irivention shown prior to assembly including an electrical switch housing containing the lever support means and a rigid lever actuator;

FIG. 2 is a view along the lines 2-2 of FIG. 1 showing the lever support means in longitudinal cross section with the rigid lever in place; and

FIG. 3 is a view along lines 3-3 of FIG. 1 showing the lever support means in transverse cross section with the rigid lever in place.

My invention is disclosed in FIG. 1 with reference to an electrical switch 10 which includes a base or split housing formed of a case 12 and a cover 14 appropriately secured thereto. The case 12 supports a switch mechanism which can be of any known type but which as shown is of the type set forth in my co-pending patent application, Ser. No. 18,413, filed Mar. l l, 1970 and entitled Switch Mechanism With S-Shaped Snap Acting Spring Member. A reciprocally movable driver member or plunger 16 for actuating and deactuating the switch mechanism is disposed in a through opening 18 located in an outer wall of the case 12.

The case 12 and the cover 14 include a pair of identical elongated cavities 20 which serve as support means for a rigid lever actuator 22. In assembly, the rigid lever 22 overlies the plunger 16. It is to be understood that the rigid lever 22 is selectively associated with one of the cavities 20 depending upon the force-movement relationship of the particular switch application.

Referring now to FIGS. l3, the cavities 20 each present an hourglass shape 21 when viewed in transverse cross section, particular reference being made to FIG. 3. The cavities 20 each include undercut recesses 24 and 26 at their longitudinal extremities, the former of which is located in the case 12 and the latter of which is located in the cover 14, particular reference being made to FIG. 2. The recesses 24 and 26 are formed by overlying protrusions 28 and 30, the former of which is formed in the case 12 and the latter of which is formed in the cover 14.

The case 12 and the cover 14 are comprised of a resilient thermoplastic material. I have found glass filled Nylon, type 6-6, to be satisfactory. Utilization of such a material and proper choice of the geometry of the cavities 20 and protrusions 28 and 38, as shown, allows for the case 12, the cover 14 and the protrusions to exhibit a degree of resilience, the function which will become apparent below.

It will be noted that the rigid lever 22 includes a pair of oppositely extending portions 32 and 34. The width of the rigid lever 22 in the area of these portions 32 and 34 is less than the length of the cavities 20 but greater than throat 36 of tapered opening 38 which is provided between the resilient protrusions 28 and 30. Consequently, in assembly of the rigid lever 22 to the support means of the switch 10, the oppositely extending portions 32 and 34 must be forced past the throat 36 of the tapered opening 38 and thus past the resilient protrusions 28 and 30 so as to allow entry into the cavity 20 thereby to bring about the snap fastening of the rigid lever into proper position as shown in FIG. 2. It should be noted that in addition to the resilient protrusions 28 and 30 being forced downwardly into the cavity 20 during the assembly operation, the resilient protrusions are forced outwardly as indicated by the arrows in FIG. 2. The resilient protrusions 28 and 30 may be designed as shown so that disassembly of the rigid lever 22 from the support means of the switch is not possible due to what amounts to a one-way connection.

In operation, the rigid lever 22, when acted upon by an external force, moves about a pivot provided by the opposite abutting elemental surfaces of throat 40 of the hourglass shape 21, as is suggested in FIG. 3. In addition to providing the forementioned pivot, the abutting elemental surfaces of the throat 40 limit side play of the rigid lever 22 thereby allowing a plurality of switches 10 to be mounted side by side without encountering excursions of the associated rigid levers which could give rise to interengagement therebetween. The enlarged lower and upper portions of the hourglass shape 21 of course allow for the pivotal movement of the rigid lever 22 about the forementioned axis to take place.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that I have provided a rigid lever actuating arrangement which includes snap in fastening so as to allow for the rigid lever to be assembled to a support means either during the manufacture or during in-field use. While a single embodiment has been disclosed, other forms of the invention are possible and therefore the scope of the invention should be determined from the following claims.

I claim:

l. A lever actuating arrangement comprising: a base supporting a mechanism therefrom and accommodating a driver member arranged for reciprocal movement to change the condition of said mechanism; lever support means integrally formed with said base including a pair of oppositely disposed recesses; and a rigid lever actuator overlying said driver member and including a pair of oppositely extending portions located in said recesses so as to allow for pivotal-movement of said lever actuator to thereby cause reciprocal movement of said driver member; said lever support means further including at least one resilient protrusion forming a portion of the peripheral wall of one of said recesses and located in the path of assembly movement of said lever actuator to said lever support means thereby requiring each appropriate portion of said lever actuator to be forced past each said resilient protrusion and snapped into the associated recess so as to allow assembly and so as to retain said lever actuator in place.

2..The arrangement of claim 1 wherein each resilient protrusion is limited to movement in one direction so as to allow assembly of said lever actuator to said lever support means and so as to preclude removal of said lever actuator therefrom.

3. The arrangement of claim 2 wherein said base is a housing and said mechanism is supported therein; wherein said driver member is a plunger located in a through opening in a wall of said housing; wherein said lever support means includes an elongated cavity in an outside wall of said housing, said cavity being undercut at its longitudinal extremities to provide said recesses whereby each said resilient protrusion is formed by the portion overlying the undercut.

4. The arrangement of claim 3 wherein said cavity includes a reduced longitudinal opening arranged to abut the assembled lever actuator so as to serve as a pivot therefor and to limit movement thereof about an axis transverse to the axis provided by said pivot and transverse to the longitudinal dimension of said lever actuator.

5. The arrangement of claim 4 wherein a resilient protrusion is provided at each longitudinal extremity of said cavity. 

1. A lever actuating arrangement comprising: a base supporting a mechanism therefrom and accommodating a driver member arranged for reciprocal movement to change the condition of said mechanism; lever support means integrally formed with said base including a pair of oppositely disposed recesses; and a rigid lever actuator overlying said driver member and including a pair of oppositely extending portions located in said recesses so as to allow for pivotal movement of said lever actuator to thereby cause reciprocal movement of said driver member; said lever support means further including at least one resilient protrusion forming a portion of the peripheral wall of one of said recesses and located in the path of assembly movement of said lever actuator to said lever support means thereby requiring each appropriate portion of said lever actuator to be forced past each said resilient protrusion and snapped into the associated recess so as to allow assembly and so as to retain said lever actuator in place.
 2. The arrangement of claim 1 wherein each resilient protrusion is limited to movement in one direction so as to allow assembly of said lever actuator to said lever support means and so as to preclude removal of said lever actuator therefrom.
 3. The arrangement of claim 2 wherein said base is a housing and said mechanism is supported therein; wherein said driver member is a plunger located in a through opening in a wall of said housing; wherein said lever support means includes an elongated cavity in an outside wall of said housing, said cavity being undercut at its longitudinal extremities to provide said recesses whereby each said resilient protrusion is formed by the portion overlying the undercut.
 4. The arrangement of claim 3 wherein said cavity includes a reduced longitudinal opening arranged to abut the assembled lever actuator so as to serve as a pivot therefor and to limit movement thereof about an axis transverse to the axis provided by said pivot and transverse to the longitudinal dimension of said lever actuator.
 5. The arrangement of claim 4 wherein a resilient protrusion is provided at each longitudinal extremity of said cavity. 